Police make third arrest in Hyderabad gang-rape case

Five teenagers in a car had gang-raped a young girl in the posh Jubilee Hills area on the pretext of dropping her home from a pub

Hyderabad police on Saturday made the third arrest in the sensational gang rape case while forces were on the lookout for the remaining two accused in places outside the city.

A day after arresting the youth in the May 28 gang rape of a 17-year-old girl, police apprehended the two accused, both juveniles.

Police confirmed that the second accused was the son of a VIP but declined to reveal the latter's name as this would identify the juvenile thus violating the rules.

The minor could not be apprehended by police on Friday. Police had clarified that rules didn't permit them to apprehend him during night hours.

Also Read | Hyderabad police arrest one accused in minor gang-rape case

Deputy Commissioner of Police Joel Davis told reporters on Friday night that five accused including two juveniles aged 16-17 have been identified.

One of the major accused Saduddin Malik (18) was arrested on Friday while the police teams were searching for Omair Khan (18) and two other juveniles.

Since the accused were not known to the survivor and the crime was reported three days later, the accused escaped to other places.

Various police teams were searching for the accused in other places in Telangana and in neighbouring states.

The DCP exuded confidence that police would arrest all the accused within 48 hours.

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The accused sexually assaulted the survivor in an Innova vehicle on the evening of May 28 after promising to drop her home from a pub in Jubilee Hills where the survivor and the accused attended a party.

The police officer refused to reveal the location where the offence took place saying this would reveal the identity of the survivor. He, however, said the accused left in a car from the pub and stopped at a pastry shop enroute. There they left the car and boarded another vehicle.

While the car has been seized by the police, there was no word about the Innova vehicle. The DCP evaded replies about the SUV's owner.

The police investigation revealed that after committing the crime, the accused dropped the survivor back near the pub. She called her father, who picked her up but suspected something untoward happened to her as there were bruises on her neck.

Also Read | Minor girl gang-raped in car in Hyderabad, accused belong to 'influential families'

On May 31, the survivor's father approached the police saying his daughter went to a daytime non-alcoholic party and suspected that molestation might have taken place there. He told police that the girl is in a state of shock and is not able to speak.

Based on the complaint, police registered a case under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 9 and 10 of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and started an investigation. As per the Standard Operating Procedure, the next day after counselling the survivor, police sent her to Bharosa Centre where lady officials made her comfortable and gave her confidence.

It was only the next day she revealed to lady officials what happened and gave her statement," the DCP said

Based on the survivor's statement, police altered the case to section 376 D of IPC and Section 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act and since there were bruises on the survivor, Section 323 of IPC was also added.

Under the direction of the City Police Commissioner, various teams were constituted which started collecting details. "The survivor was not in a position to reveal the identity of the accused as they were not known to her earlier. Based on CCTV footage and other technical evidence and CCTV and after it was corroborated with the survivor's statement we identified five accused, two of the major and three aged 16-17," he said.

There have been allegations by leaders of the opposition BJP that the grandson of the state home minister and the son of an MLA of MIM was also involved.

The police officer termed as '100 per cent baseless' the allegations about the home minister's grandson. He also said neither the survivor's statement nor other evidence gathered so far show that AMLA's son was involved.

The police officer, however, said the investigations were on and once the survivor is in a position to give a detailed statement and if something comes out during the investigation about the involvement of others action will be taken accordingly.